Sources of acoustic scattering in normal kidneys

Properties derived from acoustic backscatter measurements are examined to disclose sources of acoustic scattering in normal kidneys. The backscatter intensity from kidney parenchyma may be modeled using a two-component Gaussian correlation function. These two components yield effective scatterer size estimates of 220±15 μm at low frequencies and 55±10 μm at high frequencies, which correspond to the average glomerular and renal tubule diameters, respectively. A separate study using test media verifies the ability of the method to distinguish between mixtures of two different scattering structures from backscatter measurements at different frequencies